Why the name “Mark”?

[Matanuska]

Anybody know? Just curious.

[jpdalton]

Anybody know? Just curious.

‘Cuz everything cool from that era was a Mark [V]!
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IMG_3197.jpeg (231.35 KiB) Viewed 1206 times

[RFGuy]

Anybody know? Just curious.

I haven't seen anyone talk about this and my explanation will be far from definitive, but this is what I surmised when I looked into this a while back. My understanding is Hans Goldschmidt (credited as being the inventor of 10E/ER) was German. Reason that I am pointing this out is looking up word derivations, I can find many, many definitions for the word, not name, "mark". Perhaps someone far more skilled in the German language can give more detail here, but I found the simplest translation of "mark" to be "unit". This also makes sense to me because the German currency is the Deutsche Mark, which makes sense because it is one unit of currency each. So, taking this into an engineering or product naming sense, then a Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, Mark IV, Mark V, etc. is simply calling them out plainly, e.g. Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, etc. How this permeated culture and spread beyond, I couldn't say. Besides being in the niche Shopsmith community, it is all over the MCU as Tony Stark names every iteration of a new Ironman suit with a Mark prefix.

[JPG]

Now Why start with Mark V?

I would blame it on Ford(Lincoln).

Or whatever influenced Ford's inspiration.

I agree a buzz word of the era.

[edma194]

The Austin Healey 3000 had Mark I, II, III, and IV models. Definitely common marketing fluff from ye olde days. Don't forget the logo mark for the Dragnet Mark VII production company being hammered into a plate of steel.

[Ed in Tampa]

The original name was intended to be bark as in wood bark but the guy that phoned in orders for the stencils had a lisp hence “mark” was born.

[chapmanruss]

RFGuy's explanation of the name Mark being used is very plausible. Hans Goldschmidt was the inventor of the Model 10E and started the company Magna Engineering Corporation to make the Model 10E followed by the 10ER with his partners the Chambers brothers.

And John said,

‘Cuz everything cool from that era was a Mark [V]!

Any of you ever hear of the TV Production company Mark VII Limited who made shows like Adam 12?

The 5 in Mark 5 was because it was and still is as the Mark V models today, 5 tools in 1. The Mark VII made in the 1960's was 7 tools in 1 as is the Mark 7 today. Even though it was 5 tools in 1 too, the Mark 2 couldn't be called 5 so they used 2 for some reason. Maybe on a quality scale of 0 to 5 that's where it fell.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

[JPG]

Where's that put the Mark 1? Oh one function?

[chapmanruss]

JPG

You asked,

Where's that put the Mark 1? Oh one function?

No, only one Mark I still existing. As the story goes two were sold but one went back to Shopsmith. Maybe Shopsmith knew just how popular it would be.

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Shopsmith Mark I w- long tubes.JPG (41.76 KiB) Viewed 1015 times

[JPG]

Looks like a hybrid to me.